Thursday, March 31

Starting the day fresh and looking forward to the weekend... guess what? we are moving Mathias (my #2) back in his old room... no more room sharing with the big sis for the time being, it doesn't work for us neither does it for them... So it means some re-decorating for me over the weekend... luckily I never get tired of it!

I have been considering decorating with wall stickers for quite some time and I wanted to introduce you to the beautiful work of French designer Fifi Mandirac - whom I've discovered in last fall BYW course. Fifi has launched a line of wall stickers called "Dans les nuages" or "Fleurettes et confettis" for the online shop Poisson Bulle, and I find it very unique and quite irresistible...

I am off to continue my sewing and prepare the festivities... Easter is just a couple of weeks away, we are travelling to Australia for a wedding in less than two weeks *yeah* and I plan to participate to my first market in May... it's time to bring this activity to the next level *yeah yeah*.

The Handmade Hullabaloo is continuing to bring you more goodness and eye candy every week, stay tuned as I have heard there will be free printable in April!

And if you are new to the blog *welcome*, and please connect with me on Facebook or Twitter...

Monday, March 28

Hello everyone, I hope you all had a lovely weekend... what did you do?

You know what it's like when you have gifts lining up waiting to be packed and sent over...? well, that's what happened to me last week... and I finally got things together last Friday and wrapped them one by one... I always put a lot of attention into my gift wrapping and packaging in general... I think it comes from the year I spent in Japan... a beautiful wrapping paper is as important as the gift inside.

I took some pictures of some of them to show you what I mean... The green and orange paper is from India and it's been done all by hand. Beautiful, isn't it? I got it in a small shop in Holland Village Shopping Center {in Singapore} and the lady has many other designs and colors in store...

The rest is from Japan of course, but you can find similar small paper {for origami} in many places here and elsewhere.

I am a big fan of using mobiles as a way to decorate a room (any room in fact), and I am sure you do so too. Now it would be so much fun if you could share with us on Facebook photos of your home, decorating tips or even links to DIY posts related to mobiles!

Happy shopping/ crafting everyone!

** MISSED IT? If you missed my previous post for The Handmade Hullabaloo, it's here! I created three inspiration boards with tips to decorate a boy's nursery... A must read to my opinion ;) **

Thursday, March 24

Yet another talented Australian lady over at Hello Naomi designing parties and cakes to die for... I completely fall for her delicate biscuits, her birthday cakes and party decoration.

She is often { if not always } teaming up with Nathalie from imprintables and together they create the most stunning parties for little ones or grown up alike... it's all happening at scissors.paper.cake

I have chosen to illustrate this post with recent pictures of a mermaid party as I find the pastel colors so sweet...

Monday, March 21

Hello! how was your weekend? I was alone with my children and had a great time as I had planned many activities... we were outdoors a lot and it makes such a difference!

I wanted to share with you a recent discovery of mine: the beautiful house of French fashion designer Claire Lefort of Noro. I am receiving the online newsletter of Milk Magazine {a children magazine}and her house was featured in the last one. I love how she is mixing different styles and the use of very dark colors. Her chandeliers are also very impressive! ... and have a closer look at the floors...

Thursday, March 17

I might not be the only one these past few days willing to help Japan and Japanese people and not knowing what to do... or where to donate...

Ann from Little Red Bus proposed to support the action of Lydia from Ever Ours and the ladies from Utterly Engaged. They are holding a day of silence for Japan tomorrow March 18 ( = no blog post ) and support the organisation ShelterBox which was amongst the first to be on site after the quake and tsunami hit north-east Japan last Friday.

ShelterBox was one of THE first organizations asked by Japan to help and were on hand on the Saturday after the quake. Each large, green ShelterBox is tailored to a disaster but typically contains a disaster relief tent for an extended family, blankets, water storage and purification equipment, cooking utensils, a stove, a basic tool kit, a children’s activity pack and other vital items.

Please check it out and whatever you can contribute will be so appreciated.

{Bloggers Day of Silence}

Anyone that has a blog can help out with this one. The aim is just raise awareness and respect and acknowledge the devastation going on in Japan.

The guidelines are simple:1. This coming Friday, March 18th, no posts at all on your blog.

2. Please post a blog post about what you will be doing this Friday whenever possible in hopes to spread the word and whoever else would like to join in.

You all can check out what I did for mine here or Utterly Engaged's here and do it your way if you'd like.

I am so proud to be part of this amazing group of talented ladies that I would like you to be part of it too... head off to our Facebook fanpage for sharing with us your advices, tips and photos and check this page if you would like to contribute to The Handmade Hullabaloo.

For my first post I developed on Olioboard THREE inspiration boards for decorating a boy's nursery...

The one below is my favorite style and what I would like to have for my little one...

Wednesday, March 16

Tuesday, March 15

Setting the mood for the week, the month... or the year? I am not too good at updating my wire actually... I am adding and adding inspiring "materials" rather than changing them from time to time...
What about you? are you keeping a neat mood board and updating it regularly?

Miscellaneous: a piece of embroidery made many years ago {in Italy}, a Hello Kitty card, pompom trims, beads, various letterpress cards, photos etc...

A hair clip offered to my daughter {I secretly love it}, an vintage piece of crochet lace from my Grand Ma, a photo of my baby girl and I in Paris {back in 2007}

I am loving these beads {bought in Singapore} and I am currently thinking of how to use them in a next project... watch out!

Monday, March 14

How was your weekend? we had a great family time and explored areas of the town we hadn't been for a long time due to babe #2 who was too young... We spent a couple of hours in Little India on Saturday and we went to check out Sunday Eclectica at The Pigeon Hole in Tanjong Pagar area on Sunday afternoon.
They hold a little flea market twice a month and yesterday was the first one. We loved the place, an arty cafe, and the people and hope to participate in the near future!

I had promised some pictures of my children shared bedroom last week, but due to weather impairments, I couldn't make it happen! This past weekend however I managed to take a couple of pictures to show you around, and I realized that the corner where my son's bed stands is not well decorated yet, so we will give it a miss today...

My one year old son playing with the cute wooden kitchen {from ELC toy store}

I found very challenging to take {good} pictures of the interior... do you have any tips? Nina of Stylizimo mentioned to me that she uses an external flash... seems like a great idea!

Share with me your thoughts, and head over to Etincelle Creative STUDIO on Facebook to share pictures of your children's room or precious tips! I would love to see them...

Sunday, March 13

"Photograph whatever you connect with Spring like flowers, birds on a blue sky, walks in the woods, picnic with the kids, working in the garden, re-decorate projects around the house, spring cleaning, sunshine ect.Close your eyes for a minute and think about Spring...what comes to your mind?"

Friday, March 11

I was pleasantly surprised today to find out that one of the pouches has made it to a sweet and lovely Etsy treasury... And guess what, this image of spring below looks amazing! no better start for the weekend!

I invite you to have a look at the treasury and leave a comment if you like it! I am also in love with the paper lanterns with butterflies, so cute in a little girl's room! I had something similar in my daughter's room but I took it down when I moved her little brother with her... too girly!

Wednesday, March 9

I am so excited to introduce you a new project I am contributing to: The Handmade Hullabaloo. Wonderful Ann from Little Red Bus has been day dreaming of starting such project for a while and it's a dream come true with the first post going live on Monday 14th of March! Bravo Ann :)
Oh and in the meantime she also managed to give birth to her first baby Keith... talk about a woman here!

But I am sure you would like to know more about it: how-to, tutorial posts, free printables, moodboards, nursery decoration, pretty parties for kids, baby showers etc.. You see what I mean?

Tuesday, March 8

It took me a while to make them, then photography them and edit the photos... labor of love once again...

I have some new designs available in my Etsy shop in the pouches family... new fabrics, new color combinations...

... I am enjoying the process of choosing new fabrics and matching trims and lining... real fun! Such accessory can be used as jewelry or make up pouch, an evening purse if you have little to carry AND make the perfect gift for any occasion (Mother's day - coming soon, a birthday or a little attention for your bridesmaids?)...

Or and I thought we could have a break from the floral prints and try a checkered fabric...

Monday, March 7

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Mine was easy peasy and involved sun, pool and good food... nothing better to get you all relaxed and keep you happy!

Let me just remind you the great job that Elizabeth of Be Brillant! A Design Studio did in re-designing my blog and creating a brand identity for Etincelle Creative STUDIO.
This week I am getting my business cards printed out and I am very excited... serious business ahead! haha.

Elizabeth is also a talented blogger over at To Be Charmed and you will droll over her finds, DIY projects and inspiration! Connect on Twitter {here}.

Saturday, March 5

I have found two treasures this week through Pinterest and I am so happy to share them with you today. I am sure you will fall for them just as I did...

First discovery is Australian designer Sophie Lane whose gorgeous dresses for little girls are to die for. I am so inspired by this photo below... the dress, the girl, the green wall, the headband...
... G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S.

Second discovery {but somehow I had heard about this brand before, just didn't know about the entire collection} is shoe designer Chie Mihara who is creating pretty pretty pieces... Check out her spring collection available online here.

Friday, March 4

{ It´s up to you how you wish to feature or illustrate childhood, you can photograph your son or daughter, your grandchild, children playing, toys, kids candy, playgrounds, ice creams, crayons, sand castles or even photograph photos from when you where little... }

I chose this photo of my daughter Chloe as it resumes very well what childhood should be: a time for innocence, silliness and fun. I hope that my children are given the time to BE and LIVE.

Happy weekend everyone, have a wonderful time with family and friends!

Thursday, March 3

One of my friends is currently looking for inspiration for the birthday party of her little boy who is soon turning 4... he absolutely wants a car theme which I thought was not that easy to work around until I found out about... talented baker, cake decorator and party stylist... I have named Naomi of Hello Naomi!

She is presenting a cute and fun party with a DIY biscuit and cupcake decoration activity that would bring all kids to heaven! Don't you agree?

A look at the table setting, the little party favors and the overall soft color scheme sounds just right to me...
Jen, what are you thinking about it?

Wednesday, March 2

... this was the photography I submitted for The Shutter Divas... last week's challenge was to photograph still life from above......

Now here are the stories behind some of the pieces I chose:

I made the pink heart in felt as a name tag for my daughter's Christmas present. On the other side of the heart is her name {Chloe}. Last week I finally used it with pompoms to decorate her bedroom windows... I will share pictures of my children bedroom very soon {be patient}.

The little square paper was hand cut from one of my wedding invitations {I have a bunch left that I am re-using to make garlands, cards etc...}.

The two white figurines were given to my daughter by my Mum last January... they are very precious to me as we have been using them since I was a kid for the galette des rois { January 6 ~ Epiphany: they are hidden in the cake made for the occasion and whoever find one becomes the queen/ king of the day}.

And the piece of crochet is an antique from my grand-mother... I can't quite remember if she made it herself or not {she is very good at crochet}.

I am now editing a photo of my own children for this week's challenge: Childhood! I will of course share it with you next week!

Some eye candy today from The Shutter Divas Flickr group... I encourage you to join it, there is a new challenge every week and it gets you started... It's always good to learn along talented people while making friends!